MetaChat - Charlie Brown Christmas + Wine = Nostalgia

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09 December 2008

Charlie Brown Christmas + Wine = Nostalgia →[More:]

I just watched that holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas. (That is, I watched the first half hour of it. The second half hour is some sort of modern-day dreck that is NOT part of my childhood. I don't know where or when it came from, but it just ain't right. My snow-covered lawn? Get the hell off it.)

Y'all watched it too, right?

I figure I've seen it 30 times, factoring in years I was too cool or too busy to catch it on the tube. This means I can recite each upcoming line, with its proper intonation. This seriously disturbed the cats. (Especially when I yelled with Lucy, "THAT'S IT!!!!" as Schroeder plinked out Jingle Bells on his toy piano.)

What's really getting me all nostalgic, though, is the memory of Amy K. She was a year behind me in high school and sat near me in band. (We were among the cool band geeks!) She could replicate -- and would replicate, on demand -- each and every one of the dances that the Peanuts characters did during the dance scenes. I'd ask her to do the Peanuts dance, and she would -- bouncing on her toes, bobbing her head from side to side, with a carefree grin on her face.

We were never best friends, but we liked each other a lot. We didn't keep touch after high school.

Amy died 18 months ago during a C-section. It was to be her first kid. The baby was fine. Amy, for some reason, wasn't.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Show has always meant a lot to me. It's always been a touchstone of sorts. Even when Christmas turned into xmas, and when it went from being horribly exciting to distastefully commercial (just as Charlie Brown predicted!), and when I went from anticipating it like a drug to dreading the trip back to Dumbfuck, Texas, the Charlie Brown show always held an innocent appeal. Now it reminds me of Amy, and of friendships lost.

It's not guilt. We lose touch with people as we get older. I accept that wholeheartedly.

But, you know, those people who we were never as close to as we should have been -- they stay with us. And on nights like tonight, they come back.

That's the joy and the pain of holiday seasons like this. I mean, that's why we designate certain times of the year as 'holiday seasons,' right? So we have an excuse to remember? And so we have an excuse, the rest of the year, not to?

Anyway, A Charlie Brown Christmas is awesome, in all its innocence, and all its weight. Best to you, Amy, and to your family. For this silly, silly reason, I'll think of you every mid-December evening when some TV network decides to capitalize on Gen-X nostalgia. Things are funny that way.

And for y'all bunnies, if you have Charlie Brown memories to share, I'd really like to hear them.

As an incentive/cattle prod, here are some more songs from the soundtrack.

Linus and Lucy
Skating
Hark the Herald
Christmastime is Here

post by: mudpuppie at: 00:17 | 13 comments

Damn. I was just getting over my melancholy from the DCFC thread.

(((mudpups)))

(that was as much for me as it was for you)

posted by Doohickie 09 December | 00:49

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by Doohickie 09 December | 00:51

"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid ... And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." - Linus Van Pelt via Luke 2:8-14.

I am not a believer but those are some of the best words ever strung together in the English language. I always read that aloud each Christmas eve before the children went to bed.

"those people who we were never as close to as we should have been -- they stay with us." Yes they do love. They do.

posted by arse_hat 09 December | 00:53

That quote, arsey... Watching Charlie Brown this time, listening -- for real -- to that bible quote, and trying to apply it to life, today?

This is how it struck me. It sounded like things had gotten really bad. Really bad. And so the powers in charge, they needed to spread some hope. So that's the message they came up with.

Basically: "Hey y'all! You guys out there stepping in sheep shit and losing your tents! Things are going to get soooooo much better. No, really. There's this kid who was just born. He was sent by the creator of the universe. And dudes, he is so going to make things better. Seriously. Hang in there. Things are going to pick up. Oh hey, see that star up there? Yo, that's totally proof. Please, don't revolt. We're going to fix it all. You're going to retire better off than you are now. It's all going to work out. Promise! Baby! Manger! KTHYXBYE!"

Which makes me feel better and worse and confused, all at the same time.

Full circle, dude. Full circle.

posted by mudpuppie 09 December | 01:08

See pups, thats what is so awesome about the spoken/written word. What separates us from all the other beasties. Our language can say so much and it can say nothing at all and often times, do so at the same time.

We are complimactaed.

posted by arse_hat 09 December | 01:31

Oh pups. I hear what you are saying about the melancholy. Please just think about Amy's joy when she did the Peanuts dance.

I lost a friend a few months after my son was born. It was a birth-related complication from her own, and I still think about her every year around Thanksgiving. She was a vibrant person who went away from us in her sleep by a brain anyurism (sp?). All of us who knew her are thankful that she probably felt no pain. She brought joy to so many people and had finally found some peace in her life after a ton of drama that she never asked for. And then she just died. WTF? It has never made any sense to me.

It is likely that the fact that I watched Craig Ferguson's tribute to his mother earlier tonight has some bearing on my outlook. I expected to be crying. But it was a lovely eulogy. I did cry some, but I smiled more. I'd like to think that those who have gone from us would like us to smile more than cry. I don't have any solid belief system, but I hope we get to meet our most important people again somehow.

arse_hat knows much more about all this than could ever claim to.

Much love and many hugs to all of you.

posted by lilywing13 09 December | 04:10

that's why we designate certain times of the year as 'holiday seasons,' right? So we have an excuse to remember?

Exactly. And beautifully put.

posted by BoringPostcards 09 December | 09:05

Oddly enough, Alice was doing pretty much that same dance all on her own this morning, and I happened to catch it on my phone. Have a smile, mudpuppie.

posted by plinth 09 December | 09:32

I tell kids today, "when I was your age, we could ONLY see the Christmas special ONCE A YEAR! If we missed the broadcast, THAT WAS IT FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR! We didn't have these fancy playback systems that allowed us to watch it any time we wanted to! And we LIKED it!"

posted by Melismata 09 December | 10:41

:D melismata, that's what we're going through now. I cut off the cable months ago, and two weeks ago the VCR part of the DVD/VCR combo died. So now the kids have learned to manually change the channel on the TV, looking for something I'll let them watch. Usually they just turn it off again and go play with toys. Or destroy something when I'm not looking. It's been quite the adventure.

And, ((lilywing13)).

posted by lysdexic 09 December | 11:23

I agree with your description of the purpose of holidays. They are times of ritual behavior, with everything that entails. These specials, for people of a certain age, are a very important touchstone and ritual.

posted by Miko 09 December | 11:29

When I buy a tree, and lately I haven't, it's always the scrawniest, sorriest looking tree there is. You know, the one no one wanted and it's 6:30 PM on December 24. I do this because of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

As for Luke 2.... While I've moved passed needing a savior or messiah, in my mind, the Christmas story is the story about each child as the manifest hope of the world. There will be obstacles, individual Gethsemanes to endure, and even metaphoric crucifixion. But that child, those children, can come up through personal hardship, tragedy and despair and by existing can give something beautiful, meaningful, saving, to our world.

posted by Luminous Phenomena 09 December | 17:53

For lovers of the little Charlie Brown tree!

posted by redvixen 09 December | 19:02

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